We are the champions, my friends...

Yesterday the Youth Olympiad at the Dar Chebab was a success! I couldn't be happier with how well everything went and how smoothly it all seemed to come together. I was so proud of my boys and how hard they worked planning this event. Two months ago, we started talking about it and it feels good to see an idea actualize into something concrete!

I woke up early to fill water balloons in my house and gather all the materials we would need for the activities. One of my boys came over at exactly 8:00 am (he is never late and would no problem fitting into American society) and I sent him to the hanut to get my half a kilo of bananas and four cantaloupes. I gave him 20 durhams and he returned shortly asking for more money. He thought I had said 4 kilos of bananas and that would have been rather expensive. Three other boys soon joined us and we hauled the tub of water balloons and other odds and ends to the Dar Chebab.

On the way to Dar Chebab, we met up with a fellow PC volunteer, Shanna, who had brought 9 youth with her to the event. The kids were riding on a donkey cart and singing the wedding song, very excited to be there. When we arrived at the Dar Chebab, we weren't shocked to find the moudir MIA so we got things started on our own. The kids made name tags and started singing songs. Soon, Ian, another PC volunteer, showed up with his youth. I had a good chuckle when he walked in wearing his bicycle helmet on his head! I had asked him to bring it over for an activity and he wore it throughout the day as a joke.

Dan showed up a little late and due to my poor instructions on how to get to the Dar Chebab, he got lost in my town and ended up wandering around by a mosque on the edge of town. I told him to "walk toward the mosque" and he did. Just, not the right one. I went out looking for him, found a kid I recognized on the street and asked him to go look for a lost American and bring him to the Dar Chebab. The boy immediately took off in search of Dan.

Somehow Dan made it to the Dar Chebab on his own and we started the opening ceremony. I had prepared my list of rules written in Arabic so I wouldn't forget anything and of course, I forgot that piece of paper at my house! So, I winged it and the kids helped me when I couldn't remember certain words. After splitting the kids up into groups, each group created a group name and chant. One group called themselves "the Farmers." The next group's name was "Infinity," then there was "Dragons" and finally the team "Adventure," which was my team.

Our first round of activities were sports-related. We started with an egg relay and surprisingly, no eggs broke at all. Then, we had a banana relay which consisted of the kids putting a banana under their arm and hopping on one foot. Even after telling the kids that they should jump carefully, they took off in a mad dash and within seconds all the bananas had been smashed. A lot of the kids had banana stains on their armpits! We also bowled with cantaloupes, had a three-legged race and water balloon toss. I made sure to fill up extra water balloons so the kids could play around a little. I got bombed in the back of the head with two large balloons! But, it felt really good because it was so hot.

The next round was an English competition. The first activity was a word scramble and then we played Hangman. I had also prepared pictionary and charades but the time was running down, so we had to cut a few things.

After English, we moved on to GGLOW activities. GGLOW means Guys and Girls Leading Our World and encourages youth to learn good leadership skills. We played blindfolded tag, which required one person from each team to wear a blindfold and play tag. The blinded person would listen to the directions given to them by their teammates. It was hysterical. We made the kids wear our bike helmets in case one of them ran into a wall or fell down. Then we played a game where we pretended we needed to cross a river and only had five pieces of paper to walk on to cross the river. The kids had to work together to get across the river without "falling in."

After tallying up the points, each team sang their chants again and then the results were given. My team "Adventure" actually came in first place and they were all very happy. But, the most important thing was that all of the kids had fun and even the kids in last place had smiles on their faces.

By this time we were all starving, so we all had lunch together. We ate fish and bread and drank pop. Then, the kids with Shanna left. And some time later, the kids with Ian left. Ian and Dan stuck around, helped me carry my stuff back to my house and then stayed over. We made pizza and played "catchphrase music" which was hilarious! It's like catchphrase, except you have to guess songs and we played it for a few hours, sitting on my balcony, trying to keep cool.

Today Ian stuck around for a while and then Leslie came over for lunch. We ate some really yummy watermelon and then just rested and listened to music because it was too hot to move. I checked the temperature at 6:30 and it was 96 degrees. Two hours have passed, but it stills the same. I might take a shower now and continue "resting" until tomorrow!

Make sure to check out the pictures I posted.

MMMM TOASTY?

Summer has arrived it seems. h-o-t. Yesterday was extremely hot and today was no better. With my acute weather temperature guessing abilities, I would wager any number between 95 and 100. I could be way off, but I doubt it.

I've been doing exercise in the mornings outside of town for the past few weeks and I knew I was in store for a little what I like to call "blastissimo" when already at 6:30 am I was sweating from the sun. The worst part of the day is definitely after lunch between the hours of noon and oh, let's say sunset. I left my house at four to walk to the Dar Chebab and basically dragged myself there. Once there, we played ping pong inside the big room or "incinerator" for many hours. After a while I started to feel really silly and started acting weird. The kids seemed to like it though, so whatever.

With the heat, it seems things stop working properly. Water. Internet. People. My Bicycle. Electricity. This year I've yet to encounter a power outage or lack of water, but it'll happen sometime this summer. The past week my boys and I have been trying to get a hold of the ex-president of our town and he has been really difficult to track down. Both my ex-moudir and current moudir seem to be absent as well. At least I have my kids.

So, yesterday the kids came over to my house and we made tie-dyed t-shirts that we plan to wear this Sunday. Sunday, if you haven't heard, is going to be a "youth olympiad" at my Dar Chebab, put together by yours truly. Today things really started coming together and I was quite pleased! I have four Peace Corps volunteers coming to the event and three of them are brining youth with them to participate! Should be an awesome time, sun permitting. We are, however, still trying to find a meal ticket for the day. We're hoping the ex-president will donate us a lunch or money for a lunch, but we have a back-up plan that involves the kids brining tajines prepared by their mothers. I feel bad that this is our back-up plan, but the kids seem to believe that their moms would be happy to cook for us. Nothing like a steaming tajine for lunch on a 100 degree day!

I posted some pictures on flickr of the tie-dying and plan on posting more after the big event on Sunday! Stay tuned!

Broken, busted, on the fritz, kaput

Not to wallow in my own misery, but I need to complain about my bad luck! Last night and this morning it seems everything has gone wrong that could go wrong. In order of occurrence:

Broken door
Lazy Landlord
Bloody Noses
Perpetually clogged sink
Busted USB drive
Large cockroach hunt & kill
Crazy man at night

Broken door: more on this later, when I've cooled off a bit.

Lazy Landlord: Gave the ol' Peace Corps a call this morning and our fearless Safety & Security Advisor gave the guy something to think about. If this doesn't work, the next step is to tell him I'll leave the town if he doesn't act responsibly. That should get him moving.

Bloody Noses: Five in the past week. One happened in public and was a little embarrassing and involved me quickly walking home with a piece of paper and blood on my face! Luckily, I was right outside my door, so only a few people noticed. Got some medication at the pharmacy today to help with that problem.

Perpetually Clogged Sink: Last night after boiling water and pouring it down the bathroom sink four times, I gave up and went to bed. This morning, I bought some vinegar and baking soda and tried to blast it open, but that failed. I tried unscrewing the basket strainer but it seems stuck. I might have to call a plumber or somebody, because it's a foregone conclusion that the landlord ain't comin'.

Busted USB drive: Two nights ago I bumped my USB drive against a door frame and lucky me, it cracked right open! All my photos I've ever taken in Morocco were on that little flash drive, so I'm hoping that some knowledgeable person can take that little chip and work some kind of miracle with it. Anybody with any ideas about that, please let me know. For now, it's awaiting its fate safe inside a ziploc baggie.

Large cockroach hunt & kill: Last night while making dinner, I heard some rustling over in the corner of the kitchen. I grabbed a broom and investigated. Worried I would find a mouse, I was at first relieved but then terrified to find a cockroach the size of a cigarette lighter running towards me. I screamed, squashed it and swept it out the door.

Crazy man at night: After eating dinner and boiling water for hours, I went to bed, fell dead asleep and woke up two hours later to the sound of a crazy man outside my window. I think I wrote about a crazy man coming out at night before. I'm pretty sure it's the same dude. He likes to pick up things, hold them over his head, and throw them into the road. When he threw a rock at my house, I woke up. I watched him turn over a large dumpster and steal my neighbor's sign advertising his dentist office. Then, he entertained the entire neighborhood with his half an hour drum solo on a garbage can. After that either he passed out or found something new to throw and walked away.

Now, I do recognize I've got a few things going in my favor. The Safety & Security Advisor. Today's my day off from work. And, hmmm, is that it? Let me see.... Oh, I had a really good day yesterday.

Four of my best boys from Dar Chebab traveled with me to the next town over to meet with the Peace Corps volunteer and his boys. We planned a "Youth Olympiad" which the kids of my town are hosting with my help this Sunday. We will have a sports competition, English competition, and a leadership activity. This week my boys and I are going to tie-dye t-shirts to wear for the event. Also, we are going to meet with the president of the town on Tuesday and ask if he'll donate a lunch for the youth on Sunday. I'll write more about this later, but I'm very happy with how my work is going, despite all my personal problems!

Back to reality now. I need to find a bigger screwdriver.

settling in again

I didn't do anything at all this weekend. I needed a day or two to relax after Sara's visit/Spring camp. I did some exercise, laundry and studied my Arabic a little. Every once in a while I need a day where I don't leave my house and just sort of store up energy until the next time when I can have a day of quiet time again.

I'm feeling really integrated and content in my town. When I came back from camp, everyone was so happy to see me and were asking me, "Where have you been hiding?" I remember when I left my town for camp, the taxi driver gave me this concerned look and asked, "You'll come back, right? You're not yet finished with your work!" And I laughed, and reassured him I would return. When I walked into Dar Chebab, my boys were sitting there, waiting for me. I love my boys. This month our Friends Club is going to plan a field day for the youth from our town and the next town over. We will have sports and English competitions and leadership activities. I'm really excited and can't wait to see how it turns out!

I started an exercise "regime" as we say it here when I got back from camp. I've been getting up at 6:30 every day, riding my bike to Nadia's house in the village, and the two of us walk to a farm where we walk laps. Then, I ride my bike back to town. It's great because it's early and nobody is at the farm, so it's just the two of us, no harassment. It makes me feel like a normal person again. And I don't really mind getting up that early. I think it makes me more productive in my day anyway.

I've been listening to a lot of Arabic music lately. It's fun trying to listen for the words and see how much I can understand. Guess I'm a dork! I'll try and see if I can get on the songs on the blog. There has to be a way to do that!

Mini Update...More to Come!

Hello Everyone!

I have returned from Spring Camp! What a whirlwind of a week, that's for sure. The day Sara left, I woke up at 2:50 am to get to the airport for Sara's flight home...returned to the hotel alone (sad) and slept until 8:00, got up, and started my journey to Spring Camp. Of course, transportation was horrible and it seemed like the never-ending day of travel. I finally arrived at the camp center around 8:00 pm. Exhausted.

This year, I coordinated the camp in El Jadida. It was my first time coordinating, and I was really pleased with how well things went. There were five other Peace Corps volunteers under my guidance, and a Moroccan staff of eight, plus our camp director. I only have good things to say about the camp, except for one thing. The director. He was awful. His one job was to get us supplies for our English classes and clubs, and he had a difficult time managing that. Also, at the end of camp he required us to write a report for him, and ended up censoring every negative comment we mentioned. Don't worry, I intend on sending a follow up report to my programming staff in Rabat.

Anyway, camp was awesome. I had a great group of PCVs who were really excited to be there and eager to work with the kids. There is a tendency for PCVs to slack off and only work when forced to, but this was not the case in El Jadida. Also, I was blown away by the Moroccan staff. I have worked at three camps during my time in Morocco, and this staff was by far the best group I have ever worked with. The reason why: they were all young people. All of us, PCVs and Moroccans, were under the age of 30. It makes a huge difference. We all bonded and quite a bit of fun working together. I hope to get the chance to work with some of them again in the future!

After camp, I met my friend Rebecca in Casablanca for a night of rest and relaxation. We dined at only the finest of establishments...the KFC. Dis-ap-point-ment. We had heard a TGIFridays was open in Casa, but when we got there, we found it still under construction. Big bummer. So, we settled for what we thought would be the next best thing: chicken. Wrong. This was probably the worst experience I've ever had in any restaurant ever. Incompetence. We entered the restaurant and found a crowd of people corralling into a big blob around the counter. We noticed a few posts trying to force people to form lines, but that didn't seem to help much. We then waited in line for 45 minutes...as each minute ticked by, we grew closer to the point of leaving, but never did. So, we ordered our meal, elbowed our way out of the crowd with our tray and fountain drinks, and found outdoor seating with a view of the ocean. Also, a view of the "children's play land" or grassy area with one small plastic playhouse. I think the kids happy meal must have included a toy horn because all the kids had one and were breaking in their new toy ceremoniously. There was no line between where children's play land ended and the regular seating began. Balls flying everywhere, horns blowing, and crying everywhere. As we ate, we had prime seats for watching the custodial help "clean up." This involved scooping up trash into a dustpan and smashing it into an already overflowing trash can. After we finished eating, we had instant stomachaches and went back to the hotel to rest. (I think we're not accustomed to American fast food anymore)

We each took a long hot bath in the hotel and read the People magazines that my grandparents had sent me in the mail. Then we ordered Pizza Hut delivery. When asked on the phone if I wanted a side of potatoes with the pizza, I specifically said, in arabic, "No Batata" but alas, we were charged for and delivered one order of potatoes. Oh, well.

The next day we stayed in bed absorbing as much tv time as we could before we had to check-out at noon. At noon, exactly, we checked out, boarded a train and traveled to Marrakech. I spent the night at Rebecca's house and yesterday made my way back to my town. I arrived last night, tired, and found my house a disaster!

The outside door is broken. Somebody (probably the dentist) broke the lock (again). I heard while I was gone there were five men living and smoking a lot next door, but now they are apparently moving out. Humdullah. I talked to one guy who I had never seen before about the door. He didn't seem concerned or interested in fixing it. I will talk to the dentist today. I would prefer if the MulDar (landlord) would buy an entirely new door, but I'll settle for a new lock. Also, I forgot a bunch of bananas in my kitchen and over the week at least 50 fruit flies spawned and took over my kitchen. One dead cockroach. Lots of dust. All posters had fallen off walls And near-death plants. Must have been hot and dusty here.

Today I will do laundry, clean house, try to get rid of gross banana smell, and go to Dar Chebab. Take a look at the new pictures I posted on Flickr! Take care and write me!